Streets Taught Me What School Never Could

No bell rang
No teacher stood
But every corner
Had a lesson

The street
Didn’t teach me math
But I learned
What hunger multiplies

It didn’t test
With paper
It tested
With pain

I knew early
That smiles can lie
That footsteps behind you
Aren’t always friendly

School never told me
How to bury a friend
Or how to walk
With no light at the end

Streetlights
Flickered like hope
There,
Then not

Every block
Had a story
Every face
Held a fight

I saw kids
Turn ghosts
Before they could spell
Their own names

I saw kindness
Die quietly
In boys
Who once shared bread

And I learned
That soft hearts
Break faster
When no one’s watching

The street
Was a teacher
That didn’t care
If you passed or survived

You don’t graduate